Nabarun Bhattacharya's "Harbart" translated to English by Arunava Sinha is a story revolving around Harbart Sarkar. Born to LalitKumar and Shobarani on 16th Sep, 1949, grew up to be a fair and lean man having caucasian build. Although Lalitkumar had made handsome money from the war economy, he didnt need much time to lose it by gambling with films. When Harbart was less than two years old, he had lost both his parents, his father due to a jeep accident and his mother within a gap of eight months due to electrocution when putting the clothes to dry. Owing to twist of events in life, he went on to stay in his uncle, Girish Kumar's house. Growing up amidst indifference and neglect, so much that it had not come to anyone's notice that Harbart had discontinued going to school, his aunt was the only person who had some love and care to offer. Harbart had dropped out of school after class five and did self-study at home.
When Harbart was fourteen, he discovers the presence of a skull and a few bones in a tin trunk in his room. This incident had a indelible impact on him and evoked his curiosity and imagination to link the personality to which the skull may have belonged. Although he held on to them for a while, a couple of years later, he disposed of them into the AdiGanga. This was the beginning of his irresistible attraction to the concept of death and after-life. He got engrossed in reading more and more about the topics closely. He spent most of his days reading 'All about the Afterworld" and such on the attic-roof of his house, which had become his abode, more or less.
Growing up amidst bullying by his nephews, he took instant liking to one nephew of a different kind, Binu who came to Calcutta to study and stay at his uncle's house. Binu's episode in Harbart's life was going to change the latter's life forever. Binu, a committed communist got severely injured by police firing during one of his movements of protest. When in death-bed, Binu revealed the secret of the location of his diary in the house before he departed to the other world.
Life moved on, faint memories of Binu and yet after about thirteen or fourteen years post Binu's death, Harbart had a dream in which he supposedly saw Binu and the latter seemed to give him out a secret of a diary. He followed the instructions he got in his dream to find the diary. Then began, the belief and trust in his super-natural powers as a god-man being able to have dialogues with the dead. He was inclined to start a business with his new-found potential as the investment. Harbart, in his delirium, had not realised that the location of diary was told by Binu himself before he breathed his last.
Harbart, with his "Dialogue with the Dead" office, was able to mesmerize a few people and make some pennies as well. It looked like there was no turning back until a letter came from a Rationalists' Association which challenged his powers and condemned Harbart of fooling people. An encounter, well planned by the Rationalists' Association which had planned a sting operation by sending a Belgian lady to Harbart to talk of her mother who was told as being dead but was actually not. Harbart, with the given information, had made comments assuming the lady's mother was dead. So, this conflicting behavior was reason enough for the Rationalist group to fight morally. This event shook Harbart from within and unable to handle the situation, he gave in. He breathed his last.
Thus ended the life of a person who was struck by delirium, brought up around sheer neglect and ignorance to believe in his fantasized thoughts. Perhaps, a little affection and attention early on in his life, would have saved him?
A story well-woven and vocabulary supreme, is a engrossing and thought-provoking read.
Rating 3.5/5
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